Sunday, September 4, 2011

Tracking your family through the census returns

So you've looked at all the photographs, talked to Aunt Bertha and you now know that great-granddad was born in the railway village, the next step is the census returns.

In 1800 Parliament passed the Census Act and the first official census of England and Wales took place on 10th March 1801 when results revealed the population stood at approximately 9 million.

With the exception of 1941 a census has taken place in England and Wales every ten years since then, although those between 1801-1831 were basically just a headcount and most of the statistics were eventually destroyed.

With adult ages rounded down to the nearest five years and no indication of relationship between occupants, the 1841 census can be a tricky one to navigate.

However, each subsequent census contains more fascinating information. A required field to be completed in the 1851 returns was whether any of the occupants were 'blind, deaf or idiot' while in 1871 and 1881 the required information included 'imbecile, idiot or lunatic.'

A small percentage of the population is lost for various reasons and if a person is not at home on census night it can be difficult to successfully track them down, although online name indexes have made the job considerably easier.

Is the information on the census returns accurate? For the most part yes, although there are some anomalies. In the mid Victorian period elderly people born before the introduction of civil registration and without a birth certificate to consult, were sometimes vague about their age. Not everyone knew exactly where he or she were born and might just put the area they remembered growing up in as a child. Some people, usually women, gave a lower age, particularly if they were married to a younger man, and parents often said their working children were older than they were so that an employer would pay a higher wage.

The Central Library, Regent Circus has microfiche copies of all available census returns for most of Wiltshire and the Swindon area viewable free of charge. Returns for the whole of England and Wales are also accessible online at www.nationalarchives.gov.uk on a pay per view system, follow the links.

Census returns for Scotland are held at the General Register Office of Scotland, for more information log onto www.qro-scotland.qov.uk.

Unfortunately most of the Irish census returns for 1841-1891 were destroyed by fire at the Four Courts during the Irish Civil War in 1922. Check The Public Record Office of Northern Ireland on www.proni.nics.qov.uk and the National Archives of Ireland on www.nationalarchives.ie for what is available.

Good Gentlewoman

This blog began life as Status, Scandal and Subterfuge, a story about the St John ladies of Lydiard Park, Wiltshire. However, the Ladies have proved so fascinating that I have extended my research to other branches of the family and launched this new website Good Gentlewoman.